Early Residents - William Martyn Publican

 William acquired the license of The Springwood Hotel c1870, whereby he acted as both publican and postmaster until the postal service was moved to the railway station c1880.

Springwood Hotel

In March 1882 he applied for an extension of the hotel license to enable him to hold a sports day and dancing on Easter Monday. He assured the bench that ‘only married people would be present’. The extension was granted without objection enabling him to open the hotel between 6am until 8pm.

William was involved in July and August 1882, with several other Springwood residents (including Thomas Boland) in a proposed coal exploration scheme, and subscribed five pounds. However the scheme remained just that!  In 1883 a John Marsh applied for the license to the Springwood Hotel but the license was refused because of bad behaviour at previous hotels.  The license remained in the hands of William.

Mrs Martyn died in May 1884, casting a gloom over Springwood. A news article at the time said that she was beloved by all who knew her for her kindness of heart. It is uncertain when William died or if they had children.

Pamela Smith

From: The Making Of A Mountain Community, A Biographical Dictionary of the Springwood District

Early Residents - Thomas Boland

Early Residents: Thomas Boland

Thomas is commonly known as “the father of Springwood.’ He was born in Tipperary Ireland about 1810 according to the age recorded on the passenger list for the Strathfieldsay on which he immigrated to Australia with wife Mary Ann and daughter Mary in 1838.  The following year Henry Parkes (later Sir) travelled to Australia on the same ship.  This is said to have created a link between the two men leading to friendship in later life.

Thomas and Mary were Catholic and literate, and he brought excellent references from Sir P.P. Carrol and others. Joseph Jackson wrote that the Boland family went to Bathurst where Thomas was said to have been overseer manager for the Ranken family as well as overseer in a cheese factory.[1]  However, his obituary in the Nepean Times 30^th March 1889 stated that he worked in Bathurst for Perrier Brothers.[2]  The Perriers and Rankens were early pioneers in the Bathurst district.

He is recorded as holding the license for the Bathurst Traveller 1841-4 also known as the Weatherboard Inn at Weatherboard (now Wentworth Falls).  In 1843 he is shown as holding the publican’s license for the Trafalgar Inn, Honeysuckle Flat, a district of Bathurst. He was appointed superintendent of road gangs at Springwood following his move from Bathurst.  In 1847, the land on which the second military barracks had been built was sold to Robert Martin, who sold it to Thomas Boland the same year.

The 20 acre site contained a slab hut with three bedrooms, a sitting room, pantry, detached kitchen, storerooms and stables.  There was a garden well supplied with water from a dam.  Thomas, with inn-keeping experience and time spent working on the western road, could see the need for an inn to serve travellers. 

Springwood or Boland's Inn

He consequently built the Springwood Inn, often known as Boland’s Inn and held the license in 1857.  Daughter Alice recounted visits made to the inn by Sir Henry Parkes, Sir James Martin and the Hon. W.B. Dalley.  Caroline Chisholm, with bands of young women immigrants also stayed at the inn.  Large numbers of Chinese camped in the ground adjacent on their way to the goldfields.

Shirley Evans

This is an abbreviated version of a larger article found in The Making of a Mountain Community: a Biographical Dictionary of the Springwood District, 2002.

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[1] Joseph Jackson Papers, Blue Mountains City Council local studies collection, vertical files.

[2] Nepean Times, 30^th March, 1889.